Children's home run by Teen-Works Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2503574 1 Registered provider: Teen-Works Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company and cares for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2503574 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2022 Full Good 18/09/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2503574 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a warm home that is clean and well maintained. Children have the opportunity to personalise their bedrooms, and there are photos of children around the home. Children like living here, with one child saying, ‘it feels like a home here… they just get me’. Another child described the home as ‘freeing’, ‘compassionate’ and ‘homely’, saying, ‘I feel incredibly content with how life is now’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are strong advocates for children and have fought to get children into the right educational provision. One social worker said, ‘they have [name of child] back 100% and will advocate for them no end’. As a result of this, children are making good progress in their education. However, when children are not attending school, staff do not provide an education plan to support children to learn informally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop good relationships with the people who are important to children, and encourage children to spend time with their family and friends. Staff have supported children to redevelop relationships with family members that had previously broken down. As a result of this gentle but persistent effort, children have been able to rebuild relationships with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support older children to learn skills that they will need when they reach adulthood. They have helped children to find weekend jobs and attend courses that interest them. This helps children to prepare for adult life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Documents in the home are updated regularly to keep information relevant. The manager does regularly request local authority documents to keep the children’s files up to date. However, these are not always received. This does not enable children to fully understand their plans.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children say that they feel safe living in this home. Staff have a good understanding of the children’s needs and advocate for these needs to be met. One family member said, ‘they really value [name of child] as a person, the time and effort they put in is just amazing. I really feel like they nurture [name of child]’.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children do not go missing often. When children do go missing, all necessary safeguarding procedures are followed. Staff have developed positive relationships with key people involved in keeping the children safe. This enables all adults to work together to best support the children.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff support children to keep themselves safe, with ongoing work to help children to understand safety in relationships online and in the community. Staff regularly update children’s risk and support plans. However, these plans do not have specific steps for staff to follow should an incident arise. Inspection report for children’s home: 2503574 4 Staff use physical interventions as a last resort. Staff have developed close and trusting relationships with the children in their care, and have learned to recognise when children have worries. This enables them to support the children before they become overwhelmed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and suitably qualified. The manager is supportive of the staff team, with one staff member saying, ‘the support has been amazing’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When recruiting staff, managers follow safer recruitment procedures to ensure that staff are fully vetted and safe to work with children. This promotes a safe and healthy environment for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is stable and knowledgeable. Staff receive regular supervision and attend monthly team meetings, which they find helpful. Those providing supervision are suitably trained to do so. However, staff are not given the opportunity to reflect on their practice during supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff develop their practice through regular training opportunities. All staff benefit from an annual appraisal, which helps to identify further learning opportunities. This ensures that staff have the knowledge and skills to care for children effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has robust internal monitoring systems in place. She makes good use of independent monitoring to ensure that staff provide consistently good care to the children. This oversight promotes the safety and well-being of the children living there.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager considers potential risks to children in the local area and looks into local opportunities. The manager has not used the local offer for children with additional needs. This is a missed opportunity to provide children with additional support and activities. Inspection report for children’s home: 2503574 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that children who are not attending education have an education timetable to support with informal learning. 12 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that updated local authority documents are on file to keep each child’s records fully up to date. 12 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2503574 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that managers and staff are aware of the local offer setting out the support available for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’ page 26, paragraph 5.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are provided with clear steps to respond to each child’s individual behaviours. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’ page 39, paragraph 8.14)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are provided the opportunity to reflect on and develop their practice in supervision and team meetings. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2503574 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Teen-Works Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lonsdale & Marsh Ltd, Cotton House, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9TX

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Inspector

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2503574 8 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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